


Changed World

by Sourlander



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Ben Solo POV, Kylux - Freeform, M/M, Stormpilot, bookshop au, poefinn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-22 01:04:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12470040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sourlander/pseuds/Sourlander
Summary: Hux is running a bookshop and Ben is helping out, whenever he can.





	Changed World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darktensh17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darktensh17/gifts).



> This work is for the SWWA gift exchange and a response to my giftee's request for something Kylux and something with Poe. Hope you like it!!

** Changed World **

 

Whatever Hux had been thinking, when he ordered thirty editions of the tenth anniversary edition of _Fifty Shades of Grey_ was a mystery to him. But he had, insisting that he hadn’t made a mistake. That he was confident, the customers would come… but they hadn’t. In fact, Ben remembered their discussion on the attraction of eBooks for erotic literature… how no one in their right mind liked to be caught reading that sort of book on the subway or during lunch break.

            Rolling his eyes, Ben shoved the ten editions of _Fifty Shades_ back under the display table. The other forty were still gathering dust in the backroom and their pages would fairly soon be used as wedges to keep chairs from wobbling. But this wasn’t any of his business, he reminded himself, as he shoved past Hux towards the backroom. In fact, he had nothing to do with this whatsoever. The bookshop was Hux’s baby and Hux’s mistakes couldn’t affect him.

_Well, except for when you have to take him in, because the bookshop bankrupted your boyfriend._

That little voice sounded an awful lot like his father, Ben thought, not for the first time. Han Solo had always managed to put his finger exactly on the sore spot. Only that it didn’t feel like a sore spot this time. Not entirely anyway. Having Armitage Hux for a boyfriend, or a boyfriend at all, instead of countless affairs, was something he had to get used to, but nothing that felt particularly hard. He reached for a clean rag and turned back towards the door to clear the dust off those fake-vampire stories, when he found his path blocked by Hux.

“You’re annoyed again,” Hux stated, causing Ben to roll his eyes again.

“No, I’m not.” He found the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards. “I just hate cleaning.”

“Don’t do it then.” Hux was smiling outright then, and Ben wished he was allowed to call him by his first name. But Hux hated the name… _Armitage…_ it had a certain ring to it, Ben thought, but if Hux hated that name, then Ben sure as hell wasn’t going to call him that.

            “And give up the only reason I have to stay here a little longer?” he smirked as Hux moved forward, his eyes glinting. Once again Ben caught himself wondering if they were sea green or light blue. He never could tell, somehow.

            “Who says it’s your only reason?”

            “Well, if you get customers, a couple of other reasons could cost you your reputation.” Ben grinned and pushed him away. When he had met Hux, he had been working for one of the biggest banks in the country. In fact, he had been in the top position, doing his very best to accumulate as much money for his father’s business as he possibly could, and Ben… well Ben had represented one of those companies the bank desperately wanted to take under their wing. Alderaan Corp, a family business, had felt like a weight around his neck for a long while, but when it had come down to it, he couldn’t bring himself to sell Hux the majority of the shares. As a consequence, Hux got fired and for some, inexplicable reason, he had put all his money into this bookshop. A bookshop he was unable to run properly by the look of things. His eyes drifted over the box of erotica literature, his boyfriend could never even dream of selling. “Are you sure you have a degree in business?”

            Hux frowned, the smile gone from his face. And once again, Ben had gone too far.

            With a roll of his eyes, Ben pushed past Hux, his hand brushing over Hux’s chest in apology. He felt Hux’s muscles relax slightly at his touch. Hux had been getting better at this. He was even more insecure than Ben was, though that had only surfaced once he had lost his job at the bank. The stress had shown how petty and angry he could get. And Ben understood. Hux felt vulnerable. Insecure. Insufficient… and that was something Ben could relate to all too well. He himself had never been able to live up to his uncle’s expectations. No one could be one hundred percent pure all the time.

            How they had managed it… how they had managed to stick together and stay together even years after Hux had lost his job because of Ben, was still a mystery to him, but he was glad about it. By now, he would have been the one to feel lost if Hux broke up with him.

            “Just saying,” Ben added. “You could sell them on eBay. Get them out of the back room… or give them away as a promotion. Maybe to an old-ladies book club.” He ducked, but the wet rag hit him on the back of his head anyway. “HEY!”

            “I didn’t start this bookshop to give away my books for free, Ben!”

            “Well, then by all means, let’s burn them!”

            “Sacrilege!”

            Ben snorted, picked up the rag which had fallen to the ground grinned. “You sure?”

            “Blasphemous!”

            “Okay!” He shook his head. “Thought you were an atheist, but okay.” Shrugging he looked over his shoulder to find Hux smiling at him. “Just saying, they’re huge and heavy and I hate shoving them from one place to the other to make room for proper ones.”

“Books need to be heavy, because they have the whole world inside of them.” Hux was smiling properly now. _That_ was something Ben liked to see. He straightened his shirt and smiled back. He had taken the afternoon off to be here with Hux and he was glad that he had. Working for Alderaan Corp was much more relaxed than it used to be… for him anyway. Or maybe it was just Hux, who was making things easier.

            Ben froze, when he looked out of the window and spotted the man standing outside, gesturing wildly. His heart sank. The dark, curly hair was unmistakeable. Ben’s mouth went dry and it took him a moment before he realized he was clutching his rag.

            “Are you alright?” Hux’s hand on the small of his back almost made him flinch.

            He hadn’t seen Poe Dameron in years. Not since that ridiculous crush he’d had on the man as a teenager. Not since that one time he had tried to confess his utter devotion for the older boy. He could feel his cheeks burning in embarrassment.

            Shaking his head, he managed a smile. “Just realized I know that guy.”

            He looked at Hux, whose eyes narrowed as he looked out the window as well. He had put on his dorky glasses with the dark, spotted frames. “Who is he?”

            Ben coughed. “Just someone I knew when I was a kid…  his dad used to work for my mom.” His voice had become low without him meaning to.

            The frown didn’t leave Hux’s face and Ben knew, he just knew that Hux didn’t have trouble guessing what it was that had made Ben drop the rag. “Hm.” That was all. No teasing. No awkward questions.

            The door opened, and a tall, dark stranger walked in, followed directly by Poe, who had his hand in the stranger’s.

            Ben let out a sigh of relief, when he saw the way Poe looked at that stranger, his eyes beaming. He was in no danger anymore. He touched, Hux’s shoulder and nodded. “You have customers,” Ben muttered softly, before he straightened his back to greet Poe and his boyfriend. Things were easier now. Easier to handle. He didn’t have to be embarrassed anymore. He had Hux. He didn’t need to blush over his childish crush on Poe Dameron anymore.

           

**Author's Note:**

> A HUGE thank you to Cornelia Funke, whose books constantly remind me of the beauty of books! I added a quote from one of her books in here ;) Did you spot it? 
> 
> And yes, the characters are a bit OoC, but I wanted something cuddly, because it's cold and because it's almost November and we all need a little warmth on occasion.


End file.
